SooVV\  Tv\  cV,  e  nt. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


Class 

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Book  Volume 

2)<oVVcr 


My  08-15M 


33,3 

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-C/ 


PAUPER  POLICY. 


0 

CHAPTER  1 

^  INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS 

It  is  with  no  desire  to  dogmatize  or  dictate  regard - 
No  desire  ing  the  difficult  and  important  question  that 
to  is  before  us  for  consideration  that  I  stand 
dogma-  among  yon  to-day.  It  is  rather  as  a  fellow- 
tize.  student  in  the  school  of  practical  sociology 
,  that  I  would  speak,  [as  one  who  has  had,  perhaps, 

;  exceptional  opportunities  for  studying  the  problem 
under  widely  different  circumstances  and  from 
-r; widely  varying  points  of  view.  I  am  still  a  learner  and 
expect  to  be  right  on  to  the  end,  and  welcome  the 
opportunity  of  finding  myself  among  so  many  prac 
^?tical  professors  of  sociology,  in  order  to  obtain  from 
them  all  the  information  and  correction  that  may  be 
possible.  \  '•*>'• 

It  would  be  too  much  to  expect  that  the  views  of 
evervone  should  absolutely  coincide  in 
regard  to  the  best  methods  to  be  pursued. 
Nor  does  it  seem  to  me  to  be  necessary. 
Perhaps  1  may  even  go  so  far  as  to  say  that 
if  it  were  possible,  it  would  not  be 
desirable.  May  not  the  pursuit  of  different  methods, 


Room  for 
v  Divergent 
*  Views. 

£ 


the  introduction  of  new  machinery,  the  elaboration 
of  novel  plans  and  the  multiplication  of  efforts,  which 
Cultivate  the  spirit  of  energy,  independence  and 
enterprise,  prove  as  valuable  in  the  social  as  it  has  in 
the  commercial  field? 

True,  it  may  tend  to  some  undesirable  overlap- 
Overlap-  ping  and  consequent  waste  of  strength, 
ping  of  which  it  is  wisely  the  object  of  the  United 
Competi-  Charities  of  New  York  to  correct  and 
tion.  minimize.  But  it  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  rather 
unity  of  purpose  than  uniformity  of  method  which 
we  desire,  and  there  seems  little  reason  to  doubt  that 
aggressive  rivalry,  amounting  even  to  competition, 
is  as  healthy  a  sign  in -the  social  and  religious  world 
as  it  is  in  the  commercial. 

A  monopoly  of  methods  seems  neither  possible 
Better  nor  desirable.  The  overlapping  of  shingles  on 
than  the  roof  of  a  house  may  be  and  is,  in  a  sense, 
Monopoly,  undesirable,  but  if  the  time,  trouble  and 
expense  of  securing  an  absolute  fitting  together 
edge  to .  edge  with  such  closeness  as  would 
exclude  every  raindrop  means  double  or  treble  the 
expense  of  the  other  method,  the  former  will  after  all 
be  the  most  desirable.  I  am  sure,  therefore,  that  we 
need  not  make  ourselves  feel  unhappy  if  either  now 
or  hereafter  we  fail  to  secure  on  each  other’s  part  an 
absolute  coincidence  of  views  and  methods.  Nature’s 


4 


prodigality  of  gifts,  the  profuse  overlapping  of  her 
charities  to  the  human,  animal  and  vegetable  crea¬ 
tion,  remind  us,  that  we  need  not  be  over-careful  in 
this  respect. 

On  behalf  of  the  Salvation  Army,  at  any  rate,  I 
should  like  to  say  that  our  sociology  is  of  a 
No  desire  constructive. rather  than  of  a  destructive 
to  decry  character.  We  have  no  heart  to  decry  or 
others’  pull  down  the  works  of  others,  nor  would 
work.  we  fail  to  afford  them  the  fullest 
acknowledgment  for  all  the  good  they  may 
have  done,  however  fundamentally  we  may  differ 
either  from  their  methods  or  the  line  of  policy  they 
pursue.  We  crave  for  ourselves  a  similar  indulgence. 
I  think  that  the  measure  of  success  so  far  attained 
is  at  least  sufficient  to  justify  the  continuation  on  an 
enlarged  scale  of  our  experimental  sociology. 

For  while  we  may  not  have  been  able  to  bring  to 
bear  upon  the  question  the  same  amount 
Practical  of  theoretical  and  literary  study  as  have 
Sociology,  been  within  the  reach  of  others,  and  have 
certainly  not  had  at  our  disposal  as  large 
a  supply  of  funds,  it  will  be  conceded,  I  think,  that 
few  students  of  this  vast  and  intricate  problem  have 
had  so  exceptional  an  opportunity  of  studying  it 
from  a  world-wide ,  a  national  and  a  'people's  point 
of  view. 

p2.1H0 


5 


I  have  tnyself  visited  in  turn  the  principal  cities 
of  Europe,  including  Berlin,  Paris,  Stockholm, 
European  Christiania,  Copenhagen,  Amsterdam^ 
t  Expert  Brussels,  Zurich  and  Turin.  It  'has  been 
ence.  my  privilege  to  study  the  pauper  problem 
on  the  spot,  to  face  some  of  the  largest  audiences,  to 
converse  with  some  of  the  most  thoughtful  men,  to 
exchange  views  with  the  editorial  staff  of  some  of  tlie 
leading  newspapers,  to  read  their  criticisms  of  our 
plans,  and  to  submit  the  various  theories  of  many 
opposite  schools  of  sociologists  to  the  practical  com* 
mon  sense  tests  of  experience. 

Here  in  America  I  am  obliged  to  confess  that 
limited  time  has  meant  limited  opportuni- 
American  ties  for  gaining  knowledge.  Nevertheless, 
L  Views,  the  views  I  hold  have  been  submitted  in 
one  form  or  another  to  some  of  the  ablest 
thinkers  and  sociologists  of  the  day,  and  I  am  not 
aware  of  any  serious  objection  having  been  raised  to 
them.  In  Chicago  a  special  meeting  for  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  question  was  arranged  by  the  Civic 
Federation.  In  San  Francisco  we  had  on  our  plat¬ 
form  some  of  the  leading  citizens  and  most  prom¬ 
inent  business  gentlemen  of  the  city.  In  Minnea¬ 
polis,  although  on  the  eve  of  the  election,  the  Mayor 
presided  at  our  meeting  and  the  newspapers  reported 
on  it  most  favorably.  In  Philadelphia  Judge 


6 


Ashman  took  the  chair,  and  our  meeting  was  of  a 
most  enthusiastic  character. 

At  the  same  time  from  a  people’s  point  of  view  I 
have  made  opportunities  for  studying  the 
Internal  question  from  an  inside  position,  visiting 
Evidence,  saloons  and  barrel  houses,  sleeping  in  low 
lodging-houses  and  gathering  detailed  in 
formation  from  our  slum  officers,  who  spend  their 
lives  in  perpetual  contact  with  the  poorest  of  our 
p  oor. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  CHARACTER  AND  EXTENT  OF 
THE  EVIL. 

About  the  existence  of  the  evil  there  can  be  no 
The  doubt,  though  opinions  differ  in  regard  to 
Sub-  its  actual  extent.  It  can,  however,  be  no 
merged  longer  doubted  that  the  problem  has  now 
Tenth,  reached  in  America  an  aggravated  state 
which  calls  for  prompt  and  united  action.  In  regard 
to  the  general  figures  of  the  world  it  is  commonly 
conceded  that  there  is  in  most  countries  a  “sub¬ 
merged  tenth,”  who  live  if  not  all  of  them  in  the 
actual  region ,  at  least  on  the  dismal  borderland 
of  starvation. 

It  is  a  melancholy  fact,  claiming  the  sympa- 
150  thetic  and  thoughtful  study  of  every 
Million  humanitarian  and  the  increasing  and 
Paupers,  prayerful  effort  of  every  Christian,  that  out 
of  the  estimated  1,500,000,000  of  the  world’s 
population,  no  less  than  150,000,000  pass  their  lives 
n  this  desolate  condition  of  despair.  And  even  if  we 


8 


liad  no  similar  problem  of  our  own  to  face,  it  would 
be  incumbent  on  us  and  We  should  be  the  first  to 
desire  to  mitigate  this  almost  inconceivable  mass  of 
human  woe. 

But  we  can  no  longer  afford  to  view  the  question 
The  Gaul  with  indifference,  even  had  we  the  desire, 
is  at  our  The  “Gaul”  of  poverty  is  thundering  at 
gates  our  gates.  The  echoes  of  his  “Vie  Victis” 
ring  already  in  our  ears.  His  sword  is 
likely  soon  to  be  thrown  into  the  scale.  And  it  be¬ 
hooves  us  to  strain  every  nerve  to  meet  the  emer¬ 
gency. 

We  may  congratulate  ourselves  that  as  yet  the 
Our  Sub-  problem  has  not  assumed  in  our  case  the 
merged  gigantic  and  almost  hopeless  proportions 
Twentieth,  of  older  civilizations.  We  may  fairly 
estimate  that  our  submerged  do  not  average 
at  present  more  than  a  twentieth,  rather  than  a  tenth 
of  the  population,  and  that  not  more  than  five  per 
cent,  may  fairly  be  classified  as  paupers,  whereas 
elsewhere  they  reach  twice  that  number.  Never¬ 
theless,  this  is  serious  enough. 

It  means  that  we  have  to  devise  means  for  finding 
work  and  food  for  some  four  millions  of 
Not  less  our  fellow- citizens.  Possibly  the  numbt  r 
than  Three  may  not  exceed  three  or  even  two  millions. 
Million.  It  necessarily  fluctuates  with  the  ebb  and 


flow  of  national  prosperity  or  depression.  In 
New  York  it  has  been  recently  asserted  that  there 
are  no  less  than  100,000  out -of  works.  This  estimate 

is  probably  excessive,  but  even  if  the  number  be 
halved  and  if  to  that  sad  catalogue  of  workless 
would-be  workers  we  add  those  dependent  on  them 
for  support,  we  are  face  to  face  with  an  appalling 
amount  of  human  woe,  which  is  difficult  to  conceive. 
That  the  above  estimate  of  national  poverty  is 
Our  not  too  large  is,  I  think,  confirmed  by  the 
80,000  statistical  returns  of  our  criminal  and 
Criminals,  pauper  population.  In  our  prisons  there 
are  upward  .  of  80,000  criminals  confined  at 
one  time,  while  at  least  five  times  that  number  pass 
through  in  the  course  of  the  year,  givingus  a  floating 
criminal  population  of  at  least  half  a  million. 

In  our  institutions  for  thq  poor  it  is  estimated 
Our  that  there  is  an  average  population  of  about 
330,000  85,000,  with  250,000  more  in  the  receipt  of 

Actual  outdoor  relief.  It  would  be  fair  to  estimate. 
Paupers.  I  believe,  that  at  least  ten  times  this  num¬ 
ber  are  in  and  out  of  our  pauper  institu¬ 
tions  or  dependent  for  their  support  more  or  less  on 
various  forms  of  charity,  either  from  their  relatives 
gud  friends  or  from  the  public.  Therefore,  the  prob¬ 
lem  to  be  faced  deals  in  all  probability  with  no  less 
than  three  orjour  millions  of  our  fellow  citizens. 


10 


And  here  I  would  appeal  to  our  sense  of  patriot- 
National  ism  to  look  at  the  question  rather  through 
Interests  national  than  local  interests.  Indeed,  I 
Para-  believe  the  time  has  come  when  we  must 
mount,  be  prepared  at  least  in  a  measure  if  needs 
be  to  sacrifice  the  latter  to  the  former  so 
far  as  may  be  possible.  I  do  not  ask  that  we  should 
exclude  local  interests,  or  even  that  we  should 
contemplate  any  'undue  sacrifices  on  their  behalf. 
Bat  I  do  think  that  it  is  of  vital  importance  that  as 
American  citizens,  federal  and  national  interests 
should  be  allowed  their  fullest  weight,  and  it  will  be 
found,  I  believe,  by  no  means  impossible  to  reconcile 
the  two,  even  at  the  point  where  they  may  seem  the 
most  likely  to  collide. 


11 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  FOUNDATION  PRINCIPLES  OF  A 
SOUND  PAUPER  POLICY. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  attempting  to  erect  what 
must  need  be  so  vast  a  structure  our  success 
Rock-  will  depend  largely  on  the  care  with  which 
bottom  we  lay  our  foundations.  Any  amount  ol 
Principles,  trouble  will  be  abundantly  repaid  which 
enables  us  to  reach  those  solid  rock-bottom 
principles  on  whiph  the  superstructure  may  safely 
rest.  Without  this,  the  more  magnificent  the  edifice 
the  more  certain  will  be  its  ultimate  downfall. 

In  endeavoring  to  ‘ascertain  and  formulate  these, 
I  trust  that.  I  may  not  appear  in  any  sense  to  fail  to 
appreciate  the  vast  and  superb  efforts  which  have 
Vast  already  been  put  forth.  The  fact  that  in 
and  this  city  alone  some  five  million  dollars  are 
increasing  annually  expended  in  dealing  with  the  needs 
efforts,  of  these  classes  proves  how  much  has  been 
ahd  is  being  done,  and  this  on  a  magnificent  scale, 


to  grapple  with  the  problem.  But  I  think  I  am 
justified  in  asking  whether  this  lavish  and 
Do  they  generous  expenditure  of  money  isdiminish- 
diminish  ing  in  any  degree  the  evil,  and  if  not,  why 
the  Evil  ?  not?  I  think  that  face  to  face  with  the 
talent  and  experience  which  confront  me  in 
this  room  I  am  justified  in  asking,  without  appearing 
to  be  in  any  sense  critical,  whether  there  may  not  be 
some  radical  defects  in  our  criminal  and  pauper 
machinery,  the  remedying  of  which  would  enable 
us  without  an  extra  expenditure  of  money 
Is  our  to  gradually  drain  the  morass  of  poverty 
machinery  and  cut  off  the  source  of  its  supplies.  Why 
defective  should  we,  gifted  by  Grod  with  brains  and 
hearts  and  land  and  capital,  sit  down  help¬ 
lessly  and  hopelessly  to  contemplate  with  despair  this 
continually  rising  tide  of  pauperdom?  Ought  we 
not  to  ask  ourselves  whether  there  may 
Heavy  not  be  some  better  way  out  of  our  diffi- 
drain  on  culties  than  constantly  increasing  appeals 
the  Tax-  to  the  pocketbooks  of  the  taxpayer,  till  the 
payer  cost  of  being  governed  makes  one  question 
whether  it  is  worth  while  being  governed  at  all  ? 

I  believe  the  solution  of  the  problem  lies  in  a 
Define  careful  definition  of  the  principles  that 
your  underlie  a  sound  pauper  policy,  and  I 
Principles,  venture  to  say  that  the  discovery  and 


patient  prosecution  of  these  will  not  inter¬ 
fere  one  iota  with  our  individual  independence 
and  opportunities  for  dealing  with  the  problem, 
but  will  rather  magnify  them.  For  I  must 
Encourage  confess  that  to  me  the  individual  liberty  of 
organized  each  organization  to  do  the  best  it  can  and 
effort,  the  most  it  can  in  its  own  way  is  very 
nearly  as  valuable  as  the  liberty  of  the 
individual  citizen  to  do  the  same. 

The  following,  then,  appear  to  me  to  be  the 
foundation  principles  which  should  underlie  a  sound 
pauper  policy: 

1.  The  main  cause  of  pauperism  and  crime  being 
Must  be  the  strong  centripetal  forces  of  the  city, 
Centri-  which  lead  to  an  excessive  inflow  of  popu- 
fugal.  lation  beyond  the  needs  of  the  labor 
market,  the  object  of  every  effort  to  deal 
with  the  difficulty  must  be  to  establish  or  create  as 
far  as  possible  centrifugal  forces  of  equal  power. 

The  action  of  the  heart  in  drawing  to  itself  the 
The  life-blood  from  the  body  would  be  fatal  to 
Social  its  own  existence,  were  it  not  that  with 
Heart  and  each  pulsation  the  circulation  of  those 
Lungs  blood  drops  is  maintained,  and  that  through 
each  artery  and  vein  the  equilibrium  of  inflow  and 
outflow  is  perpetually  preserved.  Similarly  with  the 
lungs,  each  act  of  inhalation  is  followed  by  a  corres- 


14 


ponding  act  of  exhalation.  Indeed,  so  jealously  is 
the  body  guarded  against  the  dangerous  accumula¬ 
tion  of  matter  that  countless  pores  dot  its  surface  and 
insure  the  steady  liberation  of  superfluous  material. 

2.  The  various  trades  and  manufactures  being  as 

1  Put  a  rule  overstocked  with  workmen,  the  land 

them  is  the  only  natural  remedy  for  the  surplus 
on  the  population  of  the  cities,  and  every  criminal 

*  Land,  and  pauper  institution  should  therefore  be 
as  far  as  possible  either  itself  a  farm  colony  or 
directly  connected  with  such.  Every  voluntary 
charitable  association  should  likewise  be  assisted  or  * 
at  least  encouraged  to  run  along  similar  lines. 

3.  The  Gospel  of  Hope  should  take  the  place  of 
The  the  Gospel  of  Despair  in  the  treatment  of 

Gospel  both  criminals  and  paupers.  Even  the 

of  worst  classes  of  society  should  not  be  treated 
Hope,  as  hopeless,  but  should  have  inducements 
placed  before  them  to  return  to  a  life  of  honesty, 
sobriety  and  hard  work. 

4.  Their  employment  should  be  such  as  will  in 
Non-injury  the  least  possible  degree  conflict  with  out- 

*  to  outside  side  labor,  while  fitting  them  to  earn  their 

labor,  own  independent  living. 

5.  The  question  should  be  dealt  with  from  a 

*  national  rather  than  from  a  local  stand¬ 
point.  The  interest  of  the  country  at  large 


15 


/ 

A  National  must  be  considered  as  well  as  those  of  each 
Policy,  individual  city — those  of  the  farmer  as  well 
as  of  the  townsman.  Any  policy,  which,  while  bene¬ 
ficial  to  one,  is  distinctly  injurious  to  other  por¬ 
tions  of  the  commonwealth,  must  be  avoided  even  at 
a  sacrifice,  otherwise  a  policy  of  reprisals  is  likely  to 
ensue,  which  will  be  detrimental  to  all. 

6.  The  policy  must  be  consistent  with  the 
Consist-  dictates  of  mercy,  humanity,  morality  and 
ent  with  Christianity.  While  firm,  it  must  not  be 
Humanity,  brutal.  Poverty  must  not  be  nailed  to  a 
cross  of  shame  or  treated  as  a  crime.  The 
sense  of  self-respect  must  be  cultivated  rather  than 
destroyed.  What  is  needed  is  to  put  more  backbone 
into  the  pauper  ra  ther  than  to  take  out  of  him  what 
little  may  still  be  left. 

7.  The  classification  of  willingness  or  unwilling¬ 

ness  to  work  must  be  substituted  as  far  as 
Willing-  possible  for  that  of  the  deserving  and  the 
ness  to  undeserving.  Inquiry  into  previous  char- 
Work.  acter  as  a  condition  of  assistance  should  be 
avoided,  or  at  least  restricted  to  the  nar¬ 
rowest  possible  limits,  especially  in  the  case  of  the 
non- criminal  poor. 

8.  The  policy  should  be  such  as  will  tend  to 
Change  change  the  man  himself  as  well  as  his  cir- 
the  Man.  cumstances. 


]  6 


The  policy  should  further  aim  at  cutting  off 
the  supply  of  criminals  and  paupers  and  at 
Cut  off  anticipating  as  far  as  possible  the  fluctu- 
the  ations  of  trade  and  commerce,  by  giving 
Supply,  the  workingman  a  second  string  to  his  bow, 
such  as  the  potato  patch,  as  well  as  by 
inculcating  habits  of  thrift. 

10.  Self-support  should  be  steadily  kept  in  view 
Self-  and  the  poor  man  and  criminal  should  be 

Support,  helped  to  work  out  their  own  regeneration. 

11.  To  deal  successfully  with  them  they  must  be 
Classify  classified,  the  hardened  criminal,  the  first 

the  offender,  the  vicious  and  the  simply  poor 
Poor,  being  separately  handled. 

12.  To  lessen  the  financial  burden  for  the  tax- 
Voluntary  payer,  as  much  as  possible  of  the  work 
Agencies  should  be  done  through  voluntary  agencies, 

prefer-  on  condition  of  their  supplementing  any 
able.  State  aid  which  they  may  receive  by  a 
fixed  proportion  of  work  produced  and  of  vol¬ 
untary  subscriptions.  For  instance  the  former  might 
be  fixed  at  one  dollar  for  every  dollar  raised  outside 
or  produced  by  the  non-competitive  labor  of  the 
inmates.  Thus  a  prison  might  be  surrounded  by  a 
group  of  farm  colonies  run  by  independent  agencies 
and  partially  supported  by  outside  gifts,  partly  by 
the  work  of  its  inmates  and  partly  by  subsidies. 


17 


Chapter  IV. 

MISTAKEN  POLICIES  TO  BE  AVOIDED. 

Having  pointed  out  what  appear  to  me  to  be  the 
essentials  of  a  wise  pauper  policy,  I  would  now 
proceed  to  deal  with  some  mistaken  policies,  which 
ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  avoided. 

1.  One  of  the  most  foolish  of  these  seems  to  me 
The  to  be  what  I  would  call  the  Ostrich  Policy 

Ostrich  which  ignores  or  makes  little-  of  the  evil, 
Policy,  burying  its  head  in  the  sands  of  forgetful¬ 
ness,  while  the  lion  of  poverty  fills  the  world 
with  his  maddened  hunger -roars. 

2.  Again,  the  Football  Policy  of  kicking  the 
The  pauper  from  city  to  city,  or  from  city  to 

Football  farm,  appears  to  me  to  be  a  mean  and 
Policy,  brutal  policy,  which  quickly  reacts  upon 
itself.  Tramps,  “like  birds,  come  home  to 
roost,”  and  if  they  go  out  from  us  blackbirds  they 
come  back  crows.  If  they  go  out  sparrows  they 
come  back  harpies — Socialists,  Anarchists,  Dynamit- 
ards  of  the  most  dangerous  and  desperate  character, 
the  manufacture  of  our  own  cold-blooded  brutality. 

3.  The  Tin-Pot  Policy  of  a  remedy  utterly 
The  inadequate  to  the  vastness  of  the  needs  is 

Tin-pot  equally  to  be  deprecated.  The  machinery 
Policy,  must  be  equal  to  the  need.  To  bridge 


18 


Niagara  we  must  calculate  the  distance  from 
bank  to  bank. 

4.  Worst  of  all,  perhaps,  is  the  Crucifixion 
The  Policy ,  which  nails  poverty  to  a  cross  of 

Cruci'  shame  of’  treats  it  as  a  crime.  This  has 
fixion  resulted  in  Europe  in  the  wholesale  manu- 
Policy,  facture  of  criminals  and  Anarchists.  It  has 
"equired  enormous  military,  naval  and  police  arm  a 
nents’to  render  it  at  all  possible,  and  even  under 
ffiese'most  favorable  (?)  circumstances  is  being  rapidly 
abandoned  as  impracticable  in  favor  of  the  more 
humane  methods  advocated  by  General  Booth's 
‘Darkest  England”  scheme. 

5.  The  Inquisitorial  Policy  of  making  help  con- 
The  In-  ditional  on  a  strict  inquiry  into  character. 

)uisitorial  (a)  A  man  may  starve  while  he  is  being 
Policy,  inquired  about. 

(b)  The  plan  is  very  expensive  where  the 
number  of  the  poor  is  great,  as  in  our  large 
cities.  Ordinarily  it  will  cost  75  cents  to  get 
25  down  a  man’s  throat,  and  even  then  the 
money  will  often  go  down  the  wrong  throat. 
Any  magistrate  or  lawyer  will  bear  witness 
to  the  extreme  difficulty  of  ascertaining  a 
man’s  character,  even  under  the  search  light 
of  judicial  investigation.  But  in  the  cases 
under  contemplation  it  must  either  be  super- 


19 


ficial,  when  it  is  worthless,  or  minute,  when 
it  becomes  vexatious  and  inquisitorial. 

(c)  It  is  very  painful  and  humiliating  to 
the  honest  poor,  who  are  the  ones  whom  it  is 
really  desired  to  help. 

(d)  It  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our 
American  institutions. 

(e)  It  is  unnecessary,  since  the  automatic 
test  of  willingness  to  work  will  usually  be 
found  sufficient.  Practically  the  only  ones 
who  are  “ undeserving ”  of  the  help  of  society 
are  those  who  are  unwilling  to  work. 

6.  The  Monopoly  Policy  as  opposed  to  the  com¬ 

petitive.  While  overlapping  is  an  evil  it  is 
Monopoly  a  lesser  one  than  is  generally  supposed, 
v.  and  in  avoiding  it  we  must  beware  of  falling 
Compete  into  far  greater  dangers.  Healthy  eompe- 
tion.  tition  in  doing  good  should  be  encouraged, 

and  the  utmost  latitude  should  be  allowed 
for  the  introduction  of  novel  methods  and  efforts, 
with  a  view  to  combat  the  inevitable  tendency  to 
crystallize  and  stagnate.  New  and  increasing  evils 
demand  new  remedies,  suited  to  the  ever-varying 
needs  of  the  hour. 

7.  For  Government  to  monopolize  the  field  or 
Private  enter  into  needless  competition  with  charit- 
Enter-  able  agencies  is  also  unwise  and  involves  an 
prise.  unnecessary  outlay  of  public.money.  The 

20 


same  principle  that  makes  it  undesirable  for  Govern¬ 
ments  to  compete  with  private  enterprise  in  business 
applies  with  even  greater  force  to  the  charitable  field, 
since  here  there  is  ready  to  hand  a  great  legion  of 
disinterested  workers,  whose  services  may  be  obtained 
for  little  or  nothing,  who  are  unaffected  by  party 
politics,  who  are  willing  to  work  on  lines  laid  down 
for  them'and  who  are  to  a  large  extent  skilled  in 
such  work. 

8.  The  scattering  of  tramps  over  the  country  is 
like  the  spreading  of  a  disease.  Why  should 
Scattering  a  great  city  and  country  like  ours  be  ner- 
Tramps.  vous  of  the  gathering  together  of  a  few 
hundred  tramps,  even  supposing  such  a 
thing  were  to  happen  ?  It  would  be  far  better  than 
the  driving  of  them  to  desperation  or  the  scattering 
of  them  broadcast  over  the  country,  maddened  by 
the  seeming  injustice  and  cruelty  with  which  they 
have  been  treated.  Get  them  together  and  you  can 
handle  them  much  more  easily  and  effectively. 


21 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  SALVATION  ARMY  PLAN 

for  dealing  with  the  problem  is  based  on  the  above 
principles.  Adapted  to  America  it  consists  briefly  ol 
the  following  branches: 

I.  The  settleinent’of  large  tracts  of  100,000  acres 
The  of  land  and  upwards  in  the  Far  WestI 

Western  This,  though  mentioned  first,  must  be 
Canaan,  necessarily  the  last  portion  of  the  scheme 
to  come  into  actual  operation. 

II.  The  establishment  of  Farm  Colonies  of  200 

to  1,000  or  more  acres,  as  land  may  be  avail- 
Farm  able,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  principal 
Colonies,  cities  suffering  from  a  congested  population. 

Already  in  different  countries  such  colonies 
have  been  commenced.  The  principal  one  consists 
of  1,500  acres  of  land  near  the  mouth  of  the  Thames. 
The  gross  produce  from  the  labor  of  the  colonists 
amounted  last  year  to  upwards  of  §100,000,  and 
although  there  was  a  small  loss  on  their  work,  owing 
largely  to  the  labor  being  unskilled,  the  value  of  most 
of  the  land  has  increased  from  $100  an  acre  to  §500 
and  even^lLOOO. 


22 


tit  City  Garden  Allotments  or  Potato  Patched 
on  the  plan  introduced  so  successfully  by 
City  Allot-  Governor  Pingree  in  Detroit.  This  serves 
ments.  to  form  a  stepping-stone  between  the  city 
and  the  farm,  creating  a  love  of  the  land 
and  a  knowledge  of  how  to  handle  it  and  providing 
the  working  classes  with  a  second  resource  in  the  case 
of  trade  depression,  besides  enabling  them  to  eke 
out  their  wages  with  the  vegetables  they  are  enabled 
to  grow. 

IV.  The  City  Colony .  This  has  been  carefully 
The  City  departmentalized  into  the  following  sec- 
Colony.  tions: 

(a)  Food  and  Shelter  Depots  for  providing  cheap 
food  and  lodgings  for  the  poor  without  actually 
Cheap  pauperizing  them.  To  supply  cheap  food 
Food  and  has  prevented  in  many  cases  the  breaking 
Shelter,  up  of  homes  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  necessary.  In  London  alone  3,500,000  meals 
from  half  a  cent  upwards  were  furnished  in  one 
year.  The  cheap  lodgings  from  2  cents  upwards 
similarly  prevented  thousands  from  drifting  into  the 
prisons  and  workhouses.  “Now  we  shall  not  have 
to  steal !  Any  of  us  can  pick  up  sufficient  to  pay  a 
few  sous  for  our  lodging!”  an  old  man  was  heard 
to  exclaim  when  we  opened  our  first  Shelter  in 
Brussels. 


23 


It  has  been  supposed  that  this  would  tend  to 
An  Objection  draw  an  increasing  number  of  young  men 
Answered,  from  the  country  to  the  city.  But  to 
this  we  reply: 

(1)  We  have  established  such  Shelters  in 

scores  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  world 
Not  SO,  and  in  no  case  are  we  aware  of  this 
having  been  the  case. 

(2)  If  here  it  should  be  otherwise  it  would  be 

easy  to  take  precautions  to  refuse  to 
Avoidable.  accept  such,  or  to  get  them  sent  back  to 
their  homes. 

(3)  As  a  rule  there  are  Salvation  Army  bar¬ 

racks  and  officers  in  the  localities  where 
Likely  to  these  young  men  live,  and  they  would 
inquire.  naturally  go  there  to  inquire  whether 
any  suitable  openings  existed  and  to 
get  a  letter  of  introduction  before 
coming  to  the  city. 

(4)  The  great  majority  of  the  people  frc« 

Our  quenting  our  New  York  Shelters  are 

experience  regular  New  Yorkers.  This  we  have 
in  ascertained  from  careful  inquiry,  and 

New  York.  we  can  easily  take  further  precautions 
in  this  direction.  In  the  course  of  about 
six  months  only  three  such  applied 
at  our  Women’s  Shelter. 


24 


( b )  Work  Yards  and  Factories  for  the  tern- 

Temporary  porary  employment  of  those  who  are 

Work.  out  of  work. 

(c)  Labor  Bureaux.  In  London  alone  19,000 

Labor  persons  were  found  temporary  or  per- 

Bureaux.  manent  employment  last  year. 

(d)  Rescue  Homes  for  fallen  women.  We 

have  sixty-eight  such  (eight  in  America) 
Homes  with  accommodation  for  about  1,700 

for  the  girls,  nearly  4,000  of  whom  pass  through 

Fallen.  annually,  eighty-five  per  cent,  being 

restoi  ed  to  lives  of  virtue. 

(e)  Prison  Gate  Homes  for  ex- criminals.  We 
Homes  for  have  twenty  such,  more  than  1,000 

Ex-Convicts,  criminals  passing  through  them  yearly 
and  eighty  per  cent,  turning  out  well . 

(/)  /Slum  Posts.  These  to  the  number  of 
eighty- six  have  been  established  in  the 
Our  Slum  worst  quarters  of  many  large  cities.  It 
Angels.  is  the  duty  of  the  officers  to  live  among 
the  poor  and  minister  to  their  wants 
in  every  way. 

The  City  Colonies  of  the  Salvation  Army  as  above 
500  described  now  number  about  500  institutions 
City  under  the  charge  of  about  2,000  officers.  In 
fnstitu-  the  United  States  we  have  thirty-two  insti- 
tions.  tutions  and  100  officers. 


2b 


There  is  one  feature  of  the  City  Colony  to' which 
Their  I  would  venture  to  call  special  attention 
Self-  and  that  is  its  self-supporting  aspect.  The 
support,  total  number  of  persons  sheltered  in  our 
various  institutions  throughout  the  world  is 
more  than  10,000.  Of  these  about  5,000  are  in 
London,  which  has  been  made  by  force  of  circum¬ 
stances  the  natural  center  of  the  experiment.  The 
total  cost  of  the  City  Colony  there  amounted  during 
the  year  to  $365,000,  and  of  this  amount  no  less  than 
$350,000  were  contributed  by  the  persons  helped 
leaving  only  a  balance  of  $15,000  to  be  raised 
Saving  from  the  charitable  public.  Had  they  been 
the  dealt  with  in  the  ordinary  manner  they 
Taxpayer,  would  have  cost  the  taxpayer  at  least 
$500,000,  or  if  they  had  partially  raised  the 
cost  for  their  support  it  would  only  have  been  by 
displacing  outside  labor. 


26 


CHAPTER  Vi. 

REVIEWING*  THE  QUESTION. 

'  Finally,  I  would  only  repeat  that  vast  and  diffi^ 
cult  as  the  problem  is,  we  have  no  reason 
The  Rock  to  view  it  with  despair.  You  will  remember 
in  the  the  story  of  the  German  grand  duke  who. 
Road,  wishing  to  test  the  industry  and  stimulate 
the  energy  of  his  dependents,  caused  a 
large  rock  to  be  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  main 
village  thoroughfare.  The  people  drove  and  rode 
and  walked  to  the  right  of  the  rock  and  to  its  left, 
but  no  one  attempted  to  remove  the  obstruction. 
Finally  the  grand  duke  summoned  his  followers  to 
he  spot  and  with  one  united  effort  the  rock  was 
removed, when  behold,  beneath  it  was  found  a  bag  of 
The  gold.  “This,”  said  the  grand  duke,  “was 
Golden  to  be  the  reward  of  the  man  who  had  the 
Guerdon,  energy  to  remove  the  rock,  but  since  none 
of  you  have  attempted  it,  the  bag  of  gold 
will  return  to  its  donor.”  May  we  not  say  that  this 
rock  of  poverty,  of  pauperism,  of  crime,  which 


27 


obstructs  the  pathway  of  civilization,  of  our  national 
prosperity  and  of  our  national  honor,  awaits  simi¬ 
larly  the  energetic  -and  united  effort  of  those  who 
shall  face  the  problem,  and  that  those  who  succeed 
iu  removing  it  will  discover  that  laid  by  the  hand  of 
Providence  under  the  seeming  obstacle  is  a  mine  of 
wealth  for  the  hearts  that  will  have  the  sympathy, 
the  brains  that  will  have  the  inventiveness  and  the 
hands  that  will  have  the  energy  to  remove  this 
stumbling-block. 


28 


OUR  FUTURE) 

Pauper  Policy 

IN  3.ME)RIGA. 

Being  a  paper  read  at  the  monthly  meeting 
of  the  United  Charities  of  New  York, 
and  published  by  special  request. 


BY 

COMMANDER  BOOTH-TUCKER. 


PRICE  ZFTV'IE  CJEIsTTS- 


NEW  YORK : 

Salvation  Army  Publishing  House  120,  123,  134  W.  14tu  Street, 


ILUN0I9-URBANA 


UNIVER9ITY  OF 


3  0112  047776692 


